Why Play Tournaments and How Periodization Changes Everything

This guide helps parents make smarter tournament and training decisions by challenging common assumptions.

Questions Every Tennis Parent Should Ask

Before scheduling tournaments and training, address these key questions:

• Why should your child play tournaments at all?
• How many tournaments help versus hurt development?
• When should tournaments happen in the training cycle?
• What's the difference between helpful tournaments and money wasters?
• How do you avoid over-scheduling or under-competing?

Understanding these questions saves thousands of dollars and years of development time.

The Open-Closed-Open Revolution

Most coaching follows the traditional Closed-Open-Closed (COC) pattern:

1. CLOSED: Perfect technique in lessons
2. OPEN: Test it in tournaments
3. CLOSED: Fix what broke under pressure

This COC approach assumes coaches know what needs fixing before seeing real competitive performance. It's backwards.

Elite Development Works Differently

The Open-Closed-Open (OCO) model puts tournaments first:

1. OPEN: Tournaments reveal what actually needs work
2. CLOSED: Training blocks fix tournament-identified problems
3. OPEN: Return to competition to test improvements

Why this matters: The OCO model creates focused training because players understand exactly why they're working on something. They felt the competitive consequence. COC creates random practice because coaches guess at problems before tournaments reveal what actually matters.

Why Tournaments Should Drive Everything

Tournaments serve five critical functions that lessons cannot replicate:

1. Real Assessment Tool

Competition shows what your child actually needs to work on. Perfect practice strokes often fail under pressure. Tournaments don't lie about what works.

2. Tactical Reality Check

Matches expose which game plans work and which fail. Beautiful cross-court rallies in practice mean nothing if your child can't handle aggressive opponents.

3. Training Motivation Creator

When players lose because their cross court backhand too often lands in zone C (Craig O'Shannessy's most important court area), putting their opponent in perfect position to dominate with forehands and control the point, they understand exactly why they need to work on depth and tactical placement. Tournament losses create the mental framework for accepting tactical changes.

4. Progress Validator

After training blocks address tournament problems, returning to competition tests whether improvements actually work in matches.

5. Competitive Skills Lab

Learning to win and lose are essential skills you can't develop in practice. These mental abilities affect how well technical training transfers to real matches.

The Fatal Mistake: Thinking more tournaments automatically mean better development. This leads to over-scheduling, burnout, and slower progress.

The Three-Tier Tournament System

Every tournament should serve a specific purpose in your development plan:

Tier 1: Major Assessment Events (2-4 per year)

• Purpose: Comprehensive performance evaluation under maximum pressure
• Approach: Rest beforehand to get accurate performance data
• Impact: Results drive major focus for next training blocks

Tier 2: Progress Testing Events (Most tournaments)

• Purpose: Test improvements from recent training
• Approach: Don't reduce training intensity
• Impact: Confirms whether training addressed identified problems

Tier 3: Low-Pressure Labs (As needed)

• Purpose: Safe environment for testing new techniques and tactics
• Approach: Treat like extended practice with competitive pressure
• Impact: Ongoing feedback without high-stakes consequences

Strategic Tournament Selection

Smart families use three categories when building schedules:

Guaranteed Entries

Tournaments your child will definitely get into based on current ranking. For newer players, these are typically Level 6 and 7 events.

Stretch Goals

Tournaments representing the next level. May require higher rankings or good recent results to get accepted.

Backup Options

Tournaments available if stretch goals don't work out. Team events work well here because they guarantee multiple matches.

Reality Check: Many parents don't understand acceptance odds. Tournament directors regularly get calls asking "Why is my child on the alternate list?" Research your realistic chances before entering.

The 4-Month Training Block Rule

Here's what challenges most families: A competitive junior needs at least four separate months per year without tournaments.

These aren't "rest" periods. They're focused training blocks where you systematically address what tournaments revealed.

Why Training Blocks Are Essential:

• Address specific weaknesses: Fix technical issues competition exposed
• Develop tactical solutions: Build responses to patterns failing in matches
• Allow genuine recovery: Continuous tournaments prevent adaptation and improvement
• Create pressure-free learning: You can't effectively change technique while competing
• Enable intentional practice: These tournament-driven training blocks ensure practice becomes intentional rather than random - addressing specific competitive needs rather than coaching assumptions

The Bias to Challenge: "If we take time off, she'll fall behind other kids who keep playing."

This thinking is backwards. Playing year-round without focused training blocks actually slows development.

But even with proper training blocks in place, families need to ensure their tournament selection creates the right competitive experiences for development.

The 2:1 Success-to-Failure Balance

Optimal development requires strategic balance:

Success Component (2 out of 3 tournaments):

• Maintains competitive confidence
• Reinforces improvements through positive results
• Builds momentum for higher-level competition

Failure Component (1 out of 3 tournaments):

• Creates learning moments practice cannot replicate
• Drives improvement motivation more than success does
• Develops resilience and problem-solving skills

Ignoring this balance: Families either over-protect with easy tournaments (no growth) or over-challenge with difficult events (confidence damage).

One of the best ways to achieve this 2:1 balance without rankings pressure is through team events, which many families overlook as a strategic option.

Team Events: The Smart Strategic Option

Most families focus only on individual tournaments and miss a key opportunity. Team events make perfect low-pressure assessment tools.

Why team events work:

• Guaranteed matches: Most provide 4-5 matches regardless of results
• Lower pressure: Players focus on team success, not individual ranking
• Easier entry: Less competitive than comparable individual tournaments
• Format variety: Different tactical challenges than individual play

Strategic use: Play team events before individual tournaments to test improvements without ranking pressure.

With the right tournament selection across individual and team events, families need a planning system adapting as competitive assessment reveals new development priorities.

Dynamic Planning That Responds to Competition

Professional tennis uses flexible planning because elite development must respond to what competition reveals. The traditional COC model creates rigid annual plans that ignore tournament feedback. OCO requires dynamic planning that adapts based on competitive assessment.

Annual Framework (December)

• Map major assessment events (Tier 1 tournaments)
• Schedule mandatory training blocks between assessment periods
• Create flexible structure for open-closed-open cycles

Quarterly Adjustments

• Analyze tournament results to identify new development priorities
• Modify training focus based on competitive performance
• Ensure adequate training time for addressing tournament-revealed problems

Weekly Adaptations

• Adjust training based on recent tournament assessment
• Balance training stress with upcoming competition requirements

Red Flags in Tournament Culture

Current trends hurting development:

Over-scheduling: Tournaments available almost every week create impossible training schedules. This prevents the focused blocks needed for real improvement.

Results obsession: Focusing on wins/losses rather than systematic learning from competitive experiences.

Ignoring development stages: Young athletes need different competition frequencies based on their development, not just tennis ranking.

Missing the learning: Playing tournaments without systematic analysis wastes the investment and educational opportunity.

The Financial Reality

Tournament families spend $15,000-$50,000 annually on competition. Are you maximizing this investment?

Consider: Would your child improve faster with 30 random tournaments or 18 strategically selected events within a systematic plan?

Research strongly suggests the strategic approach, but it requires discipline to say no to tournament opportunities.

Better Decision-Making Checklist

Before entering any tournament, ask:

1. What assessment purpose does this serve in our development?
2. Have we completed training to address our last tournament's lessons?
3. What specific questions do we need this competition to answer?
4. Are we protecting training time for real improvement?
5. How does this support systematic development versus just ranking points?

The Bottom Line

COC asks: "How can we make practice transfer to tournaments?"

OCO asks: "What do tournaments teach us about what practice should address?"

This fundamental shift—from Closed-Open-Closed to Open-Closed-Open—separates systematic development from random improvement attempts. Families who embrace OCO see faster progress because every competition serves a clear purpose within a systematic framework.

Champions aren't made in tournament weekends. They're made when tournament assessment drives focused training addressing real competitive needs. The shift from COC to OCO is the difference between hoping practice transfers and knowing it will.

About the Expertise: This article draws from my elite junior development experience working with players from developmental through professional levels. Key insights come from tournament directors like Brian Notis, who runs nearly 30 USTA events annually at every level from L1 through L7, providing unique perspective on both player development and tournament operations. Strategic insights from Craig O'Shannessy's tennis analytics research inform the tactical examples and court positioning concepts. Research support comes from Dr. Mark Kovacs (PhD in exercise physiology, former USTA Director of Sport Science, current Executive Director of the International Tennis Performance Association) and recent studies on junior tennis demands and periodization protocols.